Electric metal-working apparatus.



A. F. RIETZEL.

ELECTRIC METAL WORKING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 10, 1909.

1,049,920. Patented Jan.7,1913,

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ADOLPH F. RIE'I'ZEL, 0F WESTERLY, RHODE ISLAND, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGN- MENTS, TO THOMSON ELECTRIC \IVELIDIUATG COMPANY, C015 LYNN, MASSACHUSETTS,

A CORPORATION OF MASSACHUSETTS.

Specification of Letters Iiatent.

Patented Jan. i, 1913.

Application filed July 10, 1909. Serial No. 506,963.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that l, ADoLrH F. RIETZEL, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Westerly, in the county of Washington and State of hode Island, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Electric Metal-Working Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to electric metal working machines or apparatus and its object is to provide a simplified form of apparatus by means of which a number of electric welds or other metal working operations may be performed. a

An apparatus constructed in accordance with'my invention is particularly useful in making a line or series of welds and among other things may be used for-welding together the strand and stay members of a Wire fence or other metal fabric by-Welding the stay member at a number of its crossing points upon the strand members. My apparatus however is not limitedto this class of Work but may be used also in securing the members of other metalstructures to one another at a number of points.

In the accompanying drawings Figure 1 is a front elevation of a form of apparatus embodyingmy invention. ,Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same. Fig. 3 is a vertical transverse section on the line Z Z Fig. 1 and shoWs the welding jaws or blocks in open position. Fig. 4.- is a similar view to Fig. 3 showing the position of'the parts when the jaws close on the work. Fig. 5 shows a further position of the sameparts.

Referring to the drawings, 2, 2 indicate a pair of massive bars or blocks of copper or other 'ood conducting material forming terminal are of the sources of electricenergy which supply said bars with the heating electric currents used for the welding or other operations performed upon the work arranged in the space betweensaid'bars.

The source of current 1s, 1n the preferred. form of my 1nvent1on,the secondary or secondaries of a transformerwhose primary is of a considerable number of turns as compared with that of the secondary, the lat from. said bar. each electrode or jaw 5 as slidably mounted.

bars extending from pole to pole of the secondaries or may take any form that convenience may dictate, having regard to the particular kind of work to be done. Preferably they are offset slightly from the plane of the secondaries to afi'ord space for readily bringing the worksto position between the work-engaging clamps, jaws or electrodes.

My invention is not confined to any particular construction of devices for holding and applying pressure to the work while supplying current thereto. What i show for the sake of illustration are pairs of Welding jaws or electrodes, the opposite members of each of which pairs being mounted-upon and receiving current respectivelyfrom the bars 2, 2', so that the work, while being compressed between said opposite members, will at the same time re: ceive or be fed with current passing from one to the other member of the pair.

5 indicates a line or series of welding jaws or blocks suitably mounted upon and all receiving current from'the bar 2 and 5 indicates a cooperating series or line of welding jaws or blocks suitably mounted upon and all receivingcurrent from the opposite bar 2. The manner of attachment and mounting may be indefinitely varied without departing from my invention but for most kinds of work it is desirable to mount or secure the blocks or jaws 5 fixedly upon the bar 2 while the jaws or blocks 5 are slidably or flexibly mounted on the bar 2 soas to be capable of movement while at the same time receiving current In the drawings 1, show I show "in the drawings four pars of jaws or electrodes 5, 5, thev op osite members of each pair beingmounted on said bars respectively, but a eater number of airs might be employ without departing rom my invention, the jaws or electrodes being preferably arranged in pairs. The-form of the ends of the aws or blocks where they engage the work would obviously var according to the shape or kind 0 ceived between them. I therefore have not shown any particular conformation of the ends of the jaws excepting that they are made flat, in order that the jaws or electrodes may act independently of one another and each pair may properly do its work although the metal may not soften so as to yield under the pressure between all the pairs of jaws preferably simultaneously. It is preferred to provide each jaw or electrode 5 with a spring 6 interposed between the same and the actuating device, each jaw becoming thereby a spring-pressed electrode working independently of all the others as regards pressure upon the work although all may be simultaneously actuated by a common actuating device. Such actuating device may be of any desired construction.

The form shown comprises a shaft 8 adaptthe necessa ed to rotate in bearings 9 secured to the frames of the apparatus and is provided with a crank or eccentric 14. The said crank is connected to cross-heads 12 pivotally secured to the electrodes 5 by a pair of connecting rods 15, 16 fixedly secured to bearings 10 in which the crank or eccentric 14 is journaled. The connecting rods 15, 16 pass loosely through the cross-heads 12 and hold the electrodes 5 raised from the work by means of pins 17 passing transversely through the rods and engaging the under side of the cross-heads 12. Coiled or other springs 6 compressed between the crank bearings 10 and the cross-heads 12 normally tend to keep the cross-heads pressed against the pins 17 Nhenthe crank 14 rotates the electrodes 5 will be forced down by the springs 6 until they en'gage'the work as shown in Fig. 4:. A further rotation of the crank causes the connecting rods 15, 16 to travel and the pins 17 to leave the cross-heads 12 and the springs 6 are further compressed and apply pressure in the welding or other operation, which position is shown in Fig. 5. The electrodes are withdrawn for insertion ofa new piece of work by means of the pins-17 engaging the under sides of the cross-heads 12 and raising the same due to the rotation of the crank 14: on its upmovement.

In order that welding or heating current to approximately the same amount may pass between the pairs of the electrodes irrespective of the distance of said electrodes from the ends or parts of the bars to which the transformer secondaries or other source of energy is directly connected, said bars should be made of very large cross-section so thatthe drop of potential in the portion of bar between any two jaws or electrodes 5 will be a minimum.

While also my invention is not limited to any particular mannerof connection of tlie primary of the transformers with the source of alternating current good results as regards the uniformityof current flow between the several pairs of electrodes are obtained by connecting the primaries in series with one another as shown.-

It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that the construction of apparatus shown lends itself particularly to use in welding up of metal fabrics since the strand members of said fabrics may pass transversely through the space between the bars 2, 2 While the overhang of the bars or of the electrodes mounted thereon between the plane of the transformers gives facility for laying the stay member in place on the line of the series of pairs of jaws or electrodes.

What I claim as my invention is:

1. In an electric metal working apparatus, the combination of a pair of current supplying terminal bars of opposite polarity extending respectively from pole to pole of two sources of electrical ener and a plurality of pairs of work-engaging electrodes, the opposite members of each pair being mounted respectively on the members of said pair of terminal bars.

2. In an electric metal workin apparatus, the combination of a pair of terminal bars extending from pole to pole of two transformer secondaries and a plurality of work-engaging blocks mounted on one of said bars, a lurality of cooperating springpressed bloc (s movably mounted on and deriving current from the opposite bar and means for. actuating the latter blocks to up ply pressure to the work.

3. In an electric welding machine, the combination of a pair of conducting bars, a pair of transformer secondaries having their poles bridged by said bars, said bars terminating respectively in pole ends of the same sign, a plurality. of welding jaws mounted in' series along the axial line of one of said bars, a pluralityof coeperating jaws mounted similarly on the opposite bar and means for actua'tin said jaws.

4:. In an electric meta working apparatus, the combination of a pair of bars of copper or other good conducting material,

a pair of transformers having their secondaries connected to and electrically bridged by said bars and feeding current thereto in multiple and a plurality of welding devices mounted in pairs on said bars and deriving v welding current therefrom.

5. In an apparatus of the class described, a set of substantially parallel bar conduct'ors lying side by side in spaced relation,

a transformer having its positive lead connected to the end of one bar and its negative lead connected to the associate end of the other bar, and a second transformer having its leads similarly connected to the other ends of said bars.

6. In an apparatus of the class described, the combination of two transformers, and

a set of laterally spaced bar conductors hav- Signeol at Lynn in the county of Essex lng one of thelr ends each connected to and State of Mass. this 8th day of July the leads of one transformer and their opposite ends connected to the leads of the other ADULPH F. transformer, whereby an electrical eonnee- ]itnesses:;

tion of the two bars may close a circuit- S, A. NICHOLS through either transformer. MITGHELL, 

